CHRISTMAS CLASSICS...

I'm a sucker for the Jim Reeves Christmas album; I forget precisely how many copies of it I've got, but it must be around at least a dozen.  And that's only counting it in its original form (12 Songs Of Christmas), not the Christmas Songbook version which includes the original 12 tracks along with a selection of Jim's religious tunes, or compilation boxed sets which also include the Christmas songs.  I've got it in LPs, cassettes, and CDs, and I don't really need any more, but I just can't seem to stop buying it.

I got a remastered version released last year, and saw a CD on eBay around a week or so back that was like a mini LP, in that it came in a cardboard sleeve (no case) which was a facsimile of the original cover.  Well, I just had to buy it, didn't I?  That cost me £11.50 plus £1.65 p&p, but it looks and sounds great.  It was part of a 5 CD box set (the seller split them to sell separately) which contains the Christmas albums of Elvis Presley, Perry Como, Johnny Cash and Andy Williams, all of which (excepting Johnny Cash) I already own on vinyl and CD.

Guess what?  Then I saw the box set itself, factory sealed, on sale for £5.99, p&p free - so I bought that as well.  What a bargain!  Anyway, in case you're interested in obtaining a copy for yourself (if you can find one) for the end of this coming December, I've included a couple of photos to show you what it looks like (cribbed from the Internet).  Note that Jim Reeves heads the pack, as his album is, in my view, the best of the bunch.  (Which is only to be expected, given that he was the greatest balladeer of the 20th century.)

WHAT HAVE CREEPY WORLDS #130 AND JERRY MOUSE GOT IN COMMON?

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

Got myself a new laptop recently as my old one was Windows Vista and only one browser still fully worked with it.  However, trying to get used to my new one is a bit of a hassle as there are some things on my old one that I can't transfer - such as Picasa 3.  This was discontinued a few years ago, but I could still access it on my previous computer, though now there's no way to download it on my new one today.

This means that I can't do the same 'restoration' work to images that I once used to, which annoys the hell out of me.  Does anyone know if there's a direct equivalent of Picasa that does the exact same things in the exact same way?  Or, even better, can anyone tell me whether it's possible to transfer Picasa from one computer to the other?  Any help would be much appreciated.

But I digress.  Just bought the above comic yesterday via eBay, which was one I originally had back in either 1972 or '73.  The above image isn't of the actual one I purchased, but an earlier one from the Internet that I used in a previous post.  The seller's photos weren't of a good enough quality for me to use, so you'll just have to settle for this one.  I obtained my original copy from a newsagent's in another neighbourhood, at the same time as I bought a Marx Toys wind-up figure of Jerry mouse (of Tom & Jerry fame).

I replaced Jerry a couple of years back (along with Tom, who I never had originally), so with my acquisition of Creepy Worlds #130 (still to arrive), that's the two main items I bought on that particular day in the '70s back under my ownership.  If you'd like to read about it, click here and you'll be magically transported straight to my reminiscences of that long-ago event.

BOB HOPE IN HIS NEW JACKET...

Dug through over a dozen boxes yesterday, trying to find spare outfits for my action figures - success!  So here's Bob Hope with his 'new' jacket on, seeing as how the one he arrived in started decaying the second I touched it.  (And it was in a sealed box that hadn't been opened since the figure was first produced nearly 23 years ago.)  The new jacket isn't the same as the original, but it looks the part - and at least the problem is now sorted.  Doesn't he look smart?

(Update:) Well, the jacket I ordered via eBay finally arrived (from China), but the cuffs aren't wide enough to allow the figure's hands through without probably damaging the material, which is similar to the original but of a different style and colour (black).  So my decision to use the one in the photo was a good call, even though it was only meant as a temporary measure until the new one turned up.  (It's now permanent unless I find a better one somewhere.)